Thursday, March 05, 2015

The Great lead-pile reduction strategy 1 Colonial Period

Chaos!

My "playroom" is full. It's more than full. In order to get from one part of the room to another you now have to follow narrow paths on the floor between piles of precariously balanced stuff. I need to get rid of a lot of stuff, I really do! Coupled with this was the recognition, at the end of last year, that I had bought enough new figures to keep me occupied for seven years. Many figures have to go! Encouraged by the determination of others, such as Scott, I have decided to be ruthless about getting rid of figures I am never going to paint and since the beginning of the year I have got my lead pile down by 372 figures!. So this is the first in an occasional series looking at the different periods I have figures for and what is going and what is staying. Today it's one of my favourites: the Colonial period.

I have been collecting figures for this period for over fifteen years and my periods are: Darkest Africa, Matabele Wars, Zulu Wars, Sudan, North West Frontier, Indian Mutiny and the Sikh Wars. Time for rationalisation!

Darkest Africa

Some of my Ruga-ruga

These, with Gripping Beast Vikings, were the first metal 28mm figures I bought and I have most of the Foundry figures (except the pygmies - I hate the pygmies). I have painted reasonable forces of Azande, Belgians, British and Arabs. I also have unpainted Masai, Somalians and North Star Matabele. With the new Congo rules from Studio Tomahawk on the horizon I am not going to get rid of these except I think I will lose the Matabele as, like Zulus, they would take ages to paint. Also, I prefer my African Games to be set in slightly earlier times, I think.

Going: Matabele

Colonial India

I've only painted four Indian Mutiny British but have the rest of the unit well on the way

I had three periods I was collecting forces for: Sikh Wars, Indian Mutiny and North West frontier. Although I have only painted a few Indian Mutiny figures I still think that these would be good for some large scale skirmish games so these will stay. Likewise, the new North West Frontier figures from Artizan. They have just released another batch of these but I need to finish the ones I have started before I get any more. So, despite some lovely figures from Studio Miniatures and memories of Flashman and the Mountain of Light these didn't make the cut and I have already sold them

Gone: Sikh Wars

Zulu and Sudan Wars

Some of my Zulu Wars British

I probably shouldn't be doing both and if I was forced to choose it would be Zulu Wars which would go but the Empress Miniatures figures are so nice I can't face getting rid of them. The Perry Sudan figures will definitely stay as I have actually painted enough that I have even had some games with them.

North Africa

Ever since the days of the Airfix Sahara Fort (which I never owned but always wanted) I have had a hankering to do something with the French Foreign legion. Artizan's range has been a disappointment as they covered the Legion in detail but then didn't bother with more than a handful of packs of opponents, although the new figures form Unfeasibly Miniatures sold by Black Hat in the UK look wonderful. I need to work out some skirmish project in the future for these, perhaps using IHMN.

So, a nice clear rationalisation here but other periods will cause much more agony!

I had the sahara fort when I was kid, but never thought it would be so valuable... too bad, I left it when I moved.One question remains to this show of Willpower: how can you really let some miniature go. This is a very difficult moment for any hobbyist.